Pleasant Hill man gets five years in prison for failing to register as sex offender

PLEASANT HILL, Ill. — A Pleasant Hill man was sentenced to five years in the Illinois Department of Corrections on Thursday for failing to register as a sex offender.

Chief Deputy Zack Orr with the Pike County Sheriff’s Department conducted a criminal investigation on Nov. 28, 2023, into a violation of the Illinois Sex Offender Registration Act. After the investigation, Robert Wayne Niffen, 64, of Pleasant Hill was arrested on a charge of failure to register as a sex offender. Niffen was on federal probation for sex offender registration violations during his arrest. He was cited and released per the SAFE-T Act.  

A bench trial was held Aug. 15 in Pittsfield, and Niffen was convicted by Judge J. Frank McCartney. Niffen received his sentence from McCartney on Thursday.

The Pittsfield Police Department and Illinois State Police assisted with the investigation.